Chapter Text
The building the family heads meet at has no name. There is no sign at the iron gate, no road marker, no indication on any map that the building exists at all. It sits surrounded by miles of pine forest and blacktop roads that seem to lead nowhere. You would never find it.
That's the point.
Inside this large building rests a large board room with smoked glass windows. A long table of black walnut rests beneath a decorative chandelier made of bones of what you might assume is animal.
You would be wrong.
This evening at the far end of this table sit three people who have collectively controlled more wealth and influence than most governments in the modern world.
Malik is the youngest at seventy nine with silver hair combed carefully back from a fox-like deeply lined face. Winona sits opposite him with fire engine red hair gathered at the nape of her neck. Her many surgeries have left her looking pulled taut with none of the youth. Between them sits Chester Danforth, the eldest though he doesn't look it. He looks at least twenty years younger than his almost ninety five years.
His smooth hands rest on the table, one finger adorned with an antique signet ring that the others eye not to subtly. Out of the three he has an air of superiority, of polish and not just because of his perfectly tailored suit.
Malik leans back and gives a wet cough into his embroidered handkerchief.
"It's been too long, old friends."
Winona gives him the faintest smile. "Indeed."
A bottle of champagne sits in the center of the table but none reach for it. Meetings like this are rarely pleasant. Chester taps his ring absently on the wood table. "Any idea why we've been summoned?"
"No."
Winona lights a cigarette with a bored look at her comrades. "No idea."
Before they can speculate further the door to the room unlocks with a heavy mechanical click.
It is only in this room that the three of them sit straighter, hearts pounding even when a
strangely cherubic man enters carrying a book.
The Lawyer.
He wears a bland black suit, his dark hair brushed neatly away from his face. He looks like an overzealous Mormon.
"Good evening."
The book in his hands looks ancient; its leather is almost black with age and the corners smooth from use. The box under his arm is dark wood, held together with brass clasps. They look warily when he places the items at the head of the table, smiling at the three like he's about to give a sermon. The irony.
"Mr. Le Bail sends his regards."
The change in the room is instantaneous. "Hail Le Bail."
Voices of deep reverence sound of with dipped heads from all of them, fingers forming the ancient shape they've been taught since they pledged their allegiances. The Lawyer brings up a seat at the opposite end of the table before folding his hands overtop it. He's officious, not one for making them wait and for that they are appreciative.
"Mr. Danforth this meeting of the family heads has been called specifically for you."
Is like a gun has been emptied into the ceiling, sharp and startling for Chester as he straightens in his chair. "Me? Why?"
The Lawyer opens the book, flipping the brittle pages with efficiency.
"It's come to our attention that the original agreement between you and Mr. Le Bail is drawing to an end this Saturday at eleven p.m."
Chester double blinks at him. "That's not true... How could that be?"
"It is true." The younger man peers at the page in front of him. "Yes, it says right here you'll die of a heart attack in your study. Your maid will find you the next morning."
Chester's face betrays his fear but his voice is firm. "That's ridiculous."
"It's the stipulations of the agreement."
Chester's thumb rubs slowly over his ring, like he's trying to siphon any remaining power it might offer. "I know the agreement."
"You clearly don't if you're arguing."
Chester's face darkens "I have honored every obligation. Every payment. Every sacrifice he required of me."
"And he rewarded you handsomely." The Lawyer doesn't raise his voice; he simply turns a page and reads. "Ninety-five years. That was the agreement, Mr. Danforth. And if I recall your birthday is this Saturday."
Chester swallows as panic begins to creep up his curled spine. The realization that for this deal there is no loophole. He will have to pay.
"You'll have a lovely birthday party surrounded by family and then you'll move to you study for a final tipple," the Lawyer continues cheerfully, "that's when you will die and the contract to Mr. Le Bail will be fulfilled."
Chester's mouth remains open and for once in his long and bitter life nothing comes out. Malik slowly looks toward Winona to watch a smile appear on her face. The two are delighted with this news.
"I think this calls for a drink," Malik says popping the champagne and pouring four glasses. Winona takes hers with thanks as she looks at the ring on Chester's finger.
"Well," Winona drawls after a long sip, "you heard him, Chester. Time to pass along the ring."
Chester's fingers immediately curl. The ring is old enough that no one knows precisely when it is made, only that it was forged in the fires of hell. It isn't merely jewelry of course, this ring is the physical symbol of what another stands to gain. Power. Fortune. Authority.
"You think I'm simply going to hand it over to one of you ghouls?"
"Not yet," Malik says with far too much glee as he rests back comfortably in his chair. "Looks like that'll be Sunday."
Winona gives a quiet laugh, coughing slightly from her cigarette as Chester glares between them.
"My children will inherit it."
"The twins?" Malik laughs harshly. "Those two sociopaths won't be inheriting anything and you know it."
Chester slams his wrinkled hand onto the table top, causing Winona to yelp lightly in shock.
"You watch your fucking mouth, Malik-"
The Lawyer closes the book with a soft thump that ceases all conversation.
"There will be no inheriting of the ring as you well know, Mr Danforth. That's not how this works."
Chester falls quiet, his fingers curling again. The lawyer rests one hand upon the leather cover.
"You all know the rules. Upon Chester Danforth's death, the ring and its power will be up for claim by any member of the three families."
"Including my own children," Chester says irritability, needing it to be clear to the two figures on either side of him.
"We know the rules," Winona sniffs
"Of course we'll abide," Malik says with a respectful nod to the Lawyer.
"Excellent. Let's continue." The Lawyer takes the small box sat in front of him and carries it with delicate precision to where Chester sits. "Mr. Danforth, as is custom, please pick the game."
The old man doesn't look up when the box is placed in front of him right away. But eventually his eyes move to it, seeing his scared reflection in the glossy top of the table.
"Go on," the Lawyer says pleasantly when the older man doesn't move right away.
Age has suddenly robbed Chester's hands of their stability. The knuckles become swollen, the skin thin and mottled. Death is truly coming for him before his very eyes.
The others at the table watch raptly as he slips two trembling fingers into the opening and the cards inside shift with a papery rustle. He feels blindly through the cards, fingertips brushing one after another. For a moment, he seems unable to make himself choose.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of a card," Malik says.
"I'm ninety-five years old on Saturday. Shut the fuck up."
His fingers catch on one and he pulls it free. The card trembles visibly between his fingers as he hands it to the lawyer who reads it.
"The game chosen for this event is Fox and Geese."
The three heads that shoot each other incredulous looks. This isn't a game they've heard of before.
"Fox and Geese?"
"The foxes," the Lawyer explains, "will be your children. The geese will be civilians."
Winona's expression sharpens with interest and Malik smirks devilishly her way.
"The rules are simple. Thirteen civilians will be selected at random and placed within a designated area of a location to be decided. Your children will hunt them. Safe areas will be established throughout the playing field. The geese may move between them."
"And the foxes?"
"They hunt."
Malik's smile widens as he exchanges a look with Winona. "And the winner is determined by?"
"Being the fox who kills the most geese."
The three heads settle with this information, all lost in their own thoughts.
"The winner inherits the ring and everything attached to it." The Lawyer turns another yellowed page. "However there is one additional provision."
The trio stares at the man, baffled.
"A claimant may not possess the family's power alone. The agreement requires that the power be bound.”
Malik and Chester speak in unison.
“Bound to what?”
"To another.”
"Since when?" Winona challenges.
"We've never had to do that before!" Malik shouts before remembering himself.
"No. You never had to," the lawyer says calmly. "But Mr. Le Bail has made it known that in order for his earthly army to thrive, certain sacrifices will need to be made by those in his service."
"Sacrifices?"
"Children born with his blood in their veins. The very drops that flow in all your children."
The three heads of the family sit with this information. To form the council of The Three, sacrifices were made long ago. Sacrifices the heads do not speak of.
They sit in a stunned daze but is the ever loquacious Malik who eventually breaks the silence.
"So we have our children marry each other." He gestures across the table. "Isn't your Vanessa single?"
"Vanessa is engaged," Winona sighs. "And her fiancée is a woman."
Malik looks genuinely disappointed. "Ah."
The lawyer intervenes. "The agreement doesn't require affection or love. Only heirs."
It's a cruelty to submit their children to such a fate, but it is the price to be paid for such power. Every family head knows this. There is no use in arguing. Malik leans forward before speaking animatedly.
"So then it's agreed. Our children marry each other... they have kids but live their own lives outside of that. Keeps everything in the family."
"But a family will inevitably be left out," Chester wheezes softly. "Three is an uneven number."
"So?"
"You've each only got one child. If they marry one another my children will be left to suffer."
Malik looks at him and gives a sinister smirk. "You have such little faith in your children, Danforth?"
"What do you care so much, Chester?" Winona asks with a cruel laugh. "You won't even be around to see your children lose the High Seat."
Chester's jaw tightens when he realizes his longevity has not made his children beloved or even feared. The longer he has remained in power the more everyone has come to resent them. Chester's eyes flash when Malik gives another quiet laugh. The arrogance is enough to have Chester wishing he could leap across the table and strangle them a man.
"Well you'd both better hope your hideous daughter and pathetic son choose to align with my family. Because there's no way those soft-bellied idiots are going to be able to kill enough civilians." Chester's voice is raspy. "Unless you forgot, that's still the aim of the game."
Eyes as sharp as blades scan each face. The Danforth twins may be hated, but there is no denying their skills when it comes to battle. The three figureheads stare at one another across the table in heavy hatred. None of them like the arrangement but all of them understand they have no choice.
The Lawyer opens the ancient book to a blank page near the back and places three pens on the table. Next to those he places three small needles.
"As is tradition."
One by one they stand and move to the book. With small winces they each prick their fingers and a single red drop falls onto the page. Chester signs first, Malik follows and Winona is last. The Lawyer waits until the ink dries before he closes the book. He tucks the parchment beneath his arm before looking around the group with a cheerful smile.
"Let the game begin."